By Melissa Van Der Stad. Reprinted courtesy of Forum Communications.

MOORHEAD – Four people on different paths came together Monday, Nov. 18, to discuss the shared light within them that inspires their work improving the community in different ways. 

This event, organized by the students in the Activism 301 course at Å·ÃÀÊÓƵ, was filled with positivity, hope and laughter as the panelists and attendees strove to better understand how each person can change the world. 

Ephriam Cooper is one of the students participating in the school’s Social Activism program. It’s one of a few such programs nationwide. 

“A class like this teaches me so much about how to be a better, more empathetic person,” Cooper said. 

Cooper and his classmates chose four influential activities from the metro community to learn from at Monday’s panel discussion. 

Panelist of the . 

Growing up in Minnesota, Baity spent a lot of time with his family volunteering at their church. His family also used public assistance over the years and, by the time he graduated, the drive to help others and “fight against systems that aren’t working for people” was such a deeply held value that he pursued a degree in social work. 

As an Anishinaabe man and a descendant of the White Earth Nation, Baity stressed the importance of everyone walking into every room with a strong understanding of their inherent values and worldview. 

Being genuine and bringing your full, unfiltered self to every situation will ensure that you find the right spaces that align with your goals and help you make change, he said. 

For , executive director of the , she was raised in Burundi where the lines between immediate family, extended family and the community as a whole were blurred. 

As a result, she grew up with an inherent belief in the strength and support of a community that stuck with her through war and four forced relocations. 

When she arrived in Fargo at 20 years old, Mizero Hellerud was a single mother who drove into community work with vigor, drawing on her first-hand knowledge of being unrepresented to impact the world around her in a positive way. 

Everyone has a passion for something, she said, and by finding that joy people can build community with others who share the same interests and work together to make changes that are beyond any individual person. 

It was Pastor Grant Vanderford’s grandmother who taught him the value of people sticking up for one another. She was a teacher in the south who didn’t allow systemic and cultural racial injustices to stop her from passing knowledge onto children. 

His grandmother was “someone who refused to allow injustice to continue when she saw it,” Vanderford said, and he, too, channels his faith into doing the real world work that leads to positive charge through his ministry at and as the missions developer at . 

This small group can’t end homelessness, he said, but it can bring people together and inspire the community to keep showing up, year after year, and work toward something bigger than themselves. 

“You can’t do it by yourself,” he said. “You have to bring people in.”

 In her work she strives to be the person for others that she needed as a child.

A survivor of suicide, Seidler brings a strong sense of empathy to all her work.

She often interacts with people who do not support the LGBTQ+ community, she said, but when she runs into someone filled with bias, anger or hate she is reminded that all behaviors are based on a lived experience or trauma that they experienced.

Perhaps they were raised in a home where shouting was a form of communication, she said, or grew up in a household filled with racist beliefs or other biases.

“The hard work isn’t fighting someone,” Seidler said. “It’s asking how to grow and heal together.”

Working from a place of anger or hate isn’t sustainable, she said. The only lasting emotion is love.

Everyone has the ability to make a difference in the community, she said, it just takes time and passion.

“If you want to change the world, you can start right now,” Seidler said.